A vivid, behind-the-scenes examination of the close relationship between George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in the last scenes of the cold war. Seldom has recent diplomacy been described with the kind of depth provided here by Beschloss (The Crisis Years, 1991, etc.) and Time editor-at-large Talbott (The Master of the Game, 1988, etc.). With the help of unusual access so close to events—there are notes on closed-door meetings, negotiating sessions, and telephone calls, and just-after-the-fact discussions with diplomats (many of whom seem to bask in self-importance)—the authors show in almost day- by-day fashion how the US and Soviet governments moved from lingering suspicion to partnership in the ``new world order.'' Along the way, they reveal how, during the first six months of the Bush Administration, the Americans grumbled about Gorbachev's diplomatic grandstanding while the Soviets fumed over the mystifying ``pause'' Bush took before pursuing the diplomatic initiatives of Ronald Reagan; how Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze finally convinced an initially skeptical James Baker of his good faith in bargaining; how Bush and Gorbachev worked out their differences on German reunification and the Persian Gulf War; and how Richard Nixon received a warning of the abortive coup against Gorbachev several months before it occurred. While giving the American and Soviet leaders high marks for developing the trust that helped them end the cold war, Beschloss and Talbott also criticize their curious political tone-deafness (Gorbachev's shift toward the right encouraged Kremlin hard-liners to crack down on the Baltics, while Bush's concern for ``prudence'' made him prefer dealing with institutional leaders like Gorbachev and Poland's Gen. Jaruzelski rather than revolutionaries Lech Walesa and Boris Yeltsin). Despite the self-serving tone of many of the diplomats interviewed: a superb early take on a watershed period in diplomatic history.
Pub Date: Feb. 24, 1993
ISBN: 0-316-10362-4
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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